Death and the Dancing Footman

 

Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh  360 pp.

The wealthy Jonathan Royal invites a variety of guests to his country estate for the weekend. However, the guests are ones with grudges and/or other reasons to dislike each other. Royal claims to have hopes the weekend will resolve the disagreements but that is suspect. Multiple attempts on the life of one guest, Nicholas Compline occur and he attempts to leave the gathering but is thwarted by the massive snowstorm that hit the area. When a murder finally occurs, halfway through the novel, it is William Compline, brother of Nicholas, who is the victim. Everyone suspects the foreign doctor who has continually insisted his innocence. The large cast of characters gives a multitude of possible victims and perpetrators. I thought about creating a scorecard to keep track of everyone. The arrival of Inspector Roderick Alleyn, who makes his way through the snow from a nearby home where he is conveniently staying with his wife, artist Agatha Troy, sets the real investigation in motion. There is a lot going on in this mystery but it's a bit of a slow starter.

Rock with Wings

Rock with Wings by Anne Hillerman  322 pp.

Anne Hillerman continues writing stories of the characters created by her late father. In general she does a good job, unfortunately in this book there are a few too many "criminal" activities going on and some feel unnecessary. Navajo police officers and husband and wife, Bernadette Manuelito and Jim Chee attempt to take a much needed vacation to Monument Valley. Plans go awry when Bernie has to return home because her alcoholic sister has disappeared. Chee ends up filling in with the local police station tasked with providing security and keeping a motion picture crew in line. When a member of the film staff goes missing Chee finds her and the two of them literally stumble across a new grave. In the meantime, Bernie goes back to work and is offered a bribe during a traffic stop. Chee's former partner, the retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head. He is frail and unable to speak but aids his old partner and Bernie by doing research for them on the computer. In a convoluted plot involving money laundering, blood stains in a hotel room, solar power, endangered species, skinwalkers, and murder, Hillerman manages to tie it all up in the end. I listened to the audio book version and was disappointed in the narrator. The books by Tony Hillerman were read by the imcomparable George Guidall. This one was read by Christine Delaine who did an acceptable but not great job of it.

Screwed

Screwed / Eoin Colfer 300 pgs.

In the second book in the series Daniel McEvoy has another pretty bad week.  The mobster Irish Mike is owed a favor so he gets sent to make a delivery for him.  Of course the entire situation turns into the what is best described by two words starting with cluster.  Daniel is still funny to listen to and has expanded his friends to include his gay business manager, a crazy 80's obsessed girlfriend and, of course, Zeb, the doctor he met while working as a peace keeper in Lebanon.  Nobody here has it all together but all are amusing and fun to read.  I listened to the audio book and it is excellent with a great reader with an Irish accent.  Looking forward to the next in the series.

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Spider Woman's Daughter

Spider Woman's Daughter: A Leaphorn and Chee Novel by Anne Hillerman  305 pp.

Anne Hillerman has picked up her late father's mantle to continue his popular mystery series. I have to say she has done an admirable job. There is a slight indefinable quality that seems missing but I can't explain what that is. This story revisits characters from Tony Hillerman's 1988 novel A Thief of Time but this time it is retired Navajo Tribal Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn who is the victim, gunned down in front of Officer Bernie Manuelito, wife of Leaphorn's long time partner Sgt. Jim Chee. As Leaphorn fights for life in the hospital, Bernie and Chee search for the shooter in many of the same places in New Mexico and Arizona that appear in the earlier books of the series. Reading this was like meeting up with old friends again.

Skinny Dip

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen  355 pp.

Marine biologist, Chaz Perrone, is inept at his profession and murdering his wife, Joey. The only thing he's good at is womanizing and since he threw his wife off a cruise ship even that is going wrong. Chaz is so inept at his profession he not only gets the direction of the current wrong, he also forgets Joey is an expert swimmer. She makes her way to a floating bale of marijuana and then floats to an island inhabited by an ex-cop. Together they plot to make Chaz's life miserable before they turn him over to the police for attempted murder. Add in a plot to hide everglades pollution, a large and very hairy bodyguard with a well hidden heart of gold, the crooked head of an agribusiness, more failed murder attempts, and a Florida detective who can't wait to move back to back to Minnesota and you have classic Hiaasen hijinks all the way. There is even a couple of brief appearances by Hiaasen's recurring character "The Captain" aka "Skink." It's not his best but not his worst either--just a fun light and entertaining story.